Nearly all the matter contained in the known universe may be fundamentally
different from the atoms that allow stars to shine. Invisible "dark
matter", as it is commonly called, may be generating ten times the
gravitational force than the visible stars alone can account for. It has
been calculated that the exterior arms of a spiraling galaxy, such as our
own Milky Way, should be moving more slowly than those moving within the
body of the galaxy. There are fewer stars in the in the outer galaxial
arms, and consequentially less gravitational mass. However, the observed
rotation of the outer stars of over 150 observed galaxies is surprisingly
fast.

Estimates are that galaxies must have from 5 to 10 times the mass of
their shining stars to account for these observed speeds of rotation. The
estimated gravity generated by the even more massive galaxy clusters, those
compact aggregations of individual galaxies, indicates the presence of
dark matter 10 to 20 times the mass of the visible matter. Both reckoned
accounts point to a substantial discrepancy regarding "observed"
and "predicted" matter content in the cosmos.

There have been put forth by the scientific community many proposals
that attempt to account for this missing mass. In order for so-called "brown
dwarves" - cool, dim stars one-tenth to one-hundredth the mass of
our sun - to account for the extra mass necessary to generate observed
gravitational forces, 1000 of these imperceptible stars would be necessary
for each visible star (about 100 trillion per galaxy). Along the same line
of reasoning, billions of "black holes" - intense vortices of
gravity arising from the collapse of massive hydrogen stars - are estimated
per galaxy as necessary to account for the missing mass. These black holes,
which are likely the "dark gravity bodies" referred to in The
Urantia Book, gravitationally ensnare surrounding space-matter which, in
turn, is expected to produce abundant emissions of X-rays. But, so far,
extensive X-ray searches of the heavens have not conclusively identified
any black holes.

The elusive family of neutrinos, an assemblage of sub-atomic particles
whose presence in the cosmos is considered pervasive and whose masses are
only conjectured, have been taken to account for the excessive gravity
in galaxies. These mysterious neutrinos are expected in most theoretical
models of particle physics, such as the Grand Unification Theory (GUT),
that comprehensively attempt to interrelate all universe forces and manifestations
of matter into one unified whole, operating within one fundamental principle
of cosmic reality. Neutrinos have been virtually undetectable except for
the infinitesimal gravitational force they exert on atoms; they are conjectured
to possess an extremely tiny mass. Because the energy of a neutrino is
so small and the margin of error in measurement so great, various approaches
to measuring this mass have proven inconclusive.

Neutrino masses play an important role in the theories of astrophysics
and cosmology. The best laboratory determination for the upper bounds on
the neutrinos are uncertain, but experimentation decidedly indicates a
restrictively minute mass. The best astrophysical and cosmological bounds
are even more restrictive. In 1985, John J. Simpson of the University of
Guelf in Ontario was the first to report the possible presence of a heavy
neutrino with a calculated mass of 17 kilo-electron-volts (keV). The mass
of an electron is 511 keV, and the electron itself is surmised to be founded
on smaller sub-electronic particle components; the hypothetical electron
neutrino is one such constituent. Simpson's particle, a "heavy"
neutrino, is determined to be electrically neutral and to be weakly interactive
with ordinary matter. This same particle description is used by The Urantia
Book to describe inter-associations of the ultimaton as they position themselves
intra-electronically within the electron.

The Urantia Book tells us that what we would designate as "empty
space", actually contains approximately the equivalent mass of about
100 ultimatons, the mass of one electron, in every cubic inch. On a cosmological
scale, this ultimatonic mass adds up to be of considerable magnitude; the
gravitational effect on the physical universe would be expansively immense.

The question becomes, then: Are ultimatons and neutrinos one and the
same reality? If not, are they in any fashion related to one another? Now,
we are told that ultimatons are not subject to linear gravity as are atoms
and electrons; at least this is true for unassociated ultimatons. This
lack of linear gravity response is also characteristic of unattached and
uncharged organizations of sub-electronic energy particles. However, when
pre-electronic matter becomes activated by X-rays and other powerful energy
sources, it becomes slightly gravity responsive. Otherwise, unassociated
ultimatons respond only to the circular gravity pull of Paradise; they
are held in the universal space drift, forever swinging through pervaded
space in the exact gigantic outlines of Paradise,

In the creation of matter as we know it, ultimatons are slowed down
through many phases of physical activity before they attain the revolutionary-energy
(spin) prerequisites to electronic organization. Linear gravity begins
to become operative with this progressive development towards the electronic
organization of matter; mass response to linear gravity becomes operative.

Functioning by inherent mutual attraction, ultimatons cluster according
to their axial revolutionary velocities and these revolutions determine
the negative and positive natures of several types of electronic units.
Aggregating clusters of ultimatons, the primal physical units of material
existence, collect in groups of one hundred to make up the constitution
of an electron. There are never more nor less than one hundred ultimatons
in the typical electron. Any variation of this number less than one hundred
results in the loss of typical electron identity, bringing into existence
one of "ten modified forms" of the electron assembly.

Temperature extremes, both hot and cold, exert a great influence on
the ultimaton in the realm of energy and matter evolution. Low temperatures,
along with other cosmic influences, promote certain forms of electronic
construction and atomic assembly; high temperature and pressure, such as
exists with certain internal solar states, initiate the onset of atomic
breakup and material disintegration.

''Under such pressure and at such temperature all atoms are degraded
and broken up into their electronic and other ancestral components; even
the electrons and their associations of ultimatons may be broken up, but
the suns are not able to degrade the ultimatons" [[UB 463:5] There
are no cosmic conditions of heat or pressure which are capable of converting
ultimatons back into their primal ancestry of emergent energy.

It may be the combination of these peculiarities connected with the
unusual properties of the ultimaton that have made its direct discovery
so elusive. The lone unassociated ultimaton as well as its various sub-electronic
combinations that comprise the existence of the ten revealed modified forms
of the electron, are truly existent at the very doorstep of emergent physical
reality. They become manifest within that shadowy transition zone that
separates the pure energy of nascent cosmic force from the phenomena of
physical matter in all of its universe power. These various ultimatonic
associations, as disclosed within The Urantia Book, might provide a correlated
basis for three currently investigated members of the neutrino family,
a proposed fourth neutrino, and possibly another six undiscovered neutrino
manifestations. Their someday discovery might well bring the scientific
community to the very brink of knowable physical (emerged) reality.

Mankind would then reach the true and final particle foundation on which
all other particle manifestations, including the neutrinos, are built.
This search would conceivably lead to the discovery of the ultimate "monad"
whose primal reality can only have Paradise, the source of all energies
and the source of that from which all materialization is derived, as its
most primal nucleus.